Culturally Responsive Science Education and Teaching: Current Literature, Preservice Elementary Science Teachers and Lesson Planning

First, a meta-analysis of Culturally Responsive (CR) science teaching characteristics and practices was conducted. Findings revealed that there are a limited number of CR teaching studies at the elementary science level. When studies conducted at the middle, secondary and postsecondary level were included, six themes which encompassed the characteristics and pedagogical practices of effective CR science teachers and teacher development emerged. These themes were academics, cultural competency, social inequities, CR learning environment, rejection of the deficit lens and pedagogical strategies. Next, the impact of curriculum and practices designed to reflect these six themes on preservice elementary science teachers was explored. I used the six themes to build and implement the science methods course for preservice elementary teachers. Findings revealed that although the preservice elementary teachers acknowledged all six themes, full implementation within the field may require the methods course to be closely aligned with the field experience. This study also provided insight into the preservice elementary science teachers’ discomfort with the science content as an obstacle and the limitations of class discussions to drive change within practices. When the findings in the meta-analysis and preservice science methods course were combined, Chapter 4 was written to provide practicing elementary science teachers with a procedural guide to create and implement CR science lessons in their classrooms. The chapter included an explanation of each step along with an example and resources. A sample sixth-grade science lesson plan, which demonstrated the use of current events as the connection to the science content, was also included

A comparative study of time-sharing vs. batch processing in the teaching of introductory programming in FORTRAN

The problem studied was to determine if there were any significant differences (5% level) between control and experimental groups of students using rapid batch processing and time-sharing computer facilities in the study of elementary Fortran programming. Students were randomly assigned to the control (batch processing) and experimental (time-sharing) groups with all students receiving the same in-class instruction in Fortran. Students were measured on four items for each problem solution: number of minutes to prepare the first run; number of runs required to obtain a correct run; number of syntax errors per run; and number of logic errors per run, These measures were reported on student log forms. Following the completion of the solution of three problems, students completed an in-class problem of similar nature which the instructor submitted to obtain syntax and logic error counts. Students were then required to use the alternative mode at least once during the next six weeks of problem solution and tested again in class using a similar type of problem. Counts of syntax and logic errors were determined by the instructor as in the previous test, The study was performed at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, a largely commuter university of about 6, 000 students, in the Fall semester 1971 and replicated in the Spring semester. Facilities used exhibited a high degree of comparability so that the study might avoid confounding variables. Specifically, a Sigma 7 Xerox Data Systems computer (64K), and the BTM (Batch Time- Sharing Monitor) system, located on the Reno campus and connected to the Las Vegas campus by telephone was the facility in use. Data were tested for mean differences using Mann-Whitney U (for small groups), Student's t, Analysis of Variance F, and Analysis of Covariance F, using grade point average and IBM Aptitude Test for Programming Personnel as covariates. No differences significant at the 5% level were obtained. The failure to reject any of the six hypotheses, designed to detect differences between control (batch processing) and experimental (time-sharing) groups on measures of time required to prepare the initial run, number of runs required for successful problem completion, and numbers of syntax and logic errors detected per run, argues that there is no difference in utilizing time-sharing or fast batch processing in the teaching of elementary Fortran, when limited to the kinds of numerical problems utilized to illustrate uses of particular language features, provided the facilities used are comparable to the degree maintained in this study

Mulling Over Memories

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Jim and Leola Ragland, 33-year Southern Baptist missionaries, remembered difficult yet fulfilling times as they left Lebanon aboard a passenger ship headed to Cyprus in early March. The Raglands, founders of the Beirut Baptist School in west Beirut, were obeying a U.S. government order forcing all Americans out of Lebanon.

Final Steps In Lebanon

Photograph used for a newspaper owned by the Oklahoma Publishing Company. Caption: "Oklahoma natives and Southern Baptist missionaries Jim and Leola Ragland boarded a boat in the east Beirut harbor after more than three weeks of saying goodbyes to Lebanese friends and co-workers, both Christians and Muslims. "How do you walk away from somebody you've known for 30 years?" said Ragland, weeping. "The country needs us. The Lebanese need our school, our radio ministries, the books we're writing.

Parent involvement and student academic motivation towards science in 9th grade

Parents’ beliefs and behavior act as both explicit and implicit ways of communicating the value of science and their confidence that their child can be successful in science-related classes. Using the NCES High School Longitudinal Survey (HSLS:09), we examined how parent beliefs and behaviors regarding their 9th grader’s science education predicted the students’ motivation in science. Using multiple regression indicates that the combination of parental education, beliefs, and involvement in science-related activities with their child are weak but significant predictors of students’ academic motivation in science (adjR 2  = 0.04, F(6, 14,933) = 26.32, P < 0.001). In particular, parent education and parent involvement have positive and significant effects on students’ science identity and science self-efficacy. These findings suggest that students may have a stronger academic motivation in science with parents who have higher levels of education, more confidence in their ability to help their child in science, and who engage in more science activities with their child

The effects of induced muscle tension during tracking on level of activation and on performance.

The relation of muscle tension to mental work has been studied since the days of the Wurzburg school and the controversy over “imageless thought” (Humphrey, 1951, p. 187). In 1887, for example, Lombard (cited by Bills, 1927) found the knee jerk to be enhanced by mental effort, and Loeb reported that pressure on a dynamometer tends to slacken when accompanied by mental effort. Bills has also reviewed extensive studies by Golla, in which it was shown that the tonicity of many muscles measured during mental work was invariably heightened. Bills (1927) was apparently the first to test the functional significance of experimentally induced muscle tension and psychological activity